Trip reset for speedometers



C. CARSON. TRIP RESET FOR SPEEDOMETERS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, ISI?.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

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III?? I n0 we A we I ///4.IlllllllllllllllIIIIIIII WHA/58858 .w 47M l/WENTUH UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCEV CARSON, OF NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO J' OHNS-MAN VILLE INCORPORATED, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TRIP RESET FOR SPEEDOMETERS.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CLARENCE CARSON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of New Rochelle, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trip Resets for Speedometers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates in general to a resetting attachment designed to be assembled with an odometer or similar instrument and constructed to actuate the resetting mechanism of such an instrument and specifically relates to a peculiar assembling of such an attachment with relation to the mounting of the odometer or. other instrument. The invention constitutes an improvement over the similar device shown in my co-pending application, Serial No. 34344, filed June 16, 1915.

.One ofthe main objects of the invention is to provide a simple form of resetting mechanism, constructed so that practically all of the mechanism may be positioned at the rear of a mounting and provided with a single manual control element designed to project forwardly through the mounting, so that the device controlled by the mechanism, may be reset from a manually controlled member accessible from the front of the mounting.

A further object of the invention is to provide an easily constructed Yform of reset mechanism which may be marketed in the form of an attachment constituting a single article of manufaoturehadapted to be attached to a conventional form of odometer casing and arranged'to cooperate with the conventional form of reset mechanism in such odometers with the least possible change in this odometer mechanism.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawings and in part will be more fully set forth in the following particular description of one form of mechanism embodying my invention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction' and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a' plan view looking down upon an odometer positioned in a Hush mounting and disclosing a preferred em- Specication of Letters-Patent.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

Application med February 24,-191'7. JSerial No. 150,705. I

view of the device shown in Figure 1 with parts of the odometer casing and attachment 'broken away to sho-w internal constructlon.

In the following description and in the claims, parts will be identified by specific names for convenience of expression but they are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permlt.

In the drawing there is shown a mounting 3 which may be in the form of a flat plate constituting part' of the complete instrument or which may be any suitable support, such as the dash-board of a motor vehicle. The mounting is provided with an opening within which is positioned the odometer casing 4, with the front face 5 thereof substantially flush with the front 6 of the mounting and with the casing 4 projecting rearwardly of the rear face 7 of the mounting. The revolution. counter mechanism of the odometer includes a pair of gear wheels 8 and 9 mounted for rotary movement about coincident axes of rotation. vA third gear wheel 10 normally constitutes a gear connection for driving one of the gear wheels 8 from the other gear wheel 9 by locking the two` together 'In order to i reset the counter mechanism it is necessary to rotate the gear wheel 8 independently 'of the gear wheel 9 and to rotate the same by some suitable means preferably by manually actuating a suitable wheel or shaft.

For this purpose thecasing is provided with a long hollow, cylindrical bearing 11, extending through the side thereof in which bearing is mounted a shaft 12 extending parallel to and in rear of the mounting. The gear wheel 10 is fixed to the inner end of this shaft and is normally held against the adjacent end of the bearing by means of a. spring 13 housed within the bearing. The outer portion 14 of the shaft is enlarged to provide a shoulder 15 within the bearing and designed to be engaged by one end of the spring 13 and to provide .a relatively long sliding fit between the shaft and its bearing. The .outer enlarged end of the shaft projects for some distance externally of the casing 4' and has a relatively wide pinion 16 fixed thereto and normally spaced from the adjacent end of the bearing a distance at least equal to the necessary shift of the shaft. The extreme outer end of the shaft is rounded to provide a cam engaging head 17 projecting some material distance outwardly from the pinion 16. As thus far described the odometer may be of the conventional form in which the*l usual milled head for actuating the shaft has been replaced by the gear 16 or the disclosure may be considered as a conventional form of odometer in which the shaft 12 thus described has bodily replaced the usual shaft found in this place.'4

The invention, especially in its commercial aspects, is preferably regarded as an attachment including a containing casing 18, for housing the necessary additional elements for actuating the shaft 12 from the front of the mounting. In the form illustrated, the casing is demountably aiixed to the casing 4 by means of screws 19. A manually actuated control shaft 20 is mounted in the casing for rotary movement and for longitudinal movement in a line perpendicular to the plane of the mounting. The forward end of the shaft is defined by a head portion 21 arranged to project through an opening 22 inthe front wall 23 of the casing and through an opening 24 in the mounting. These openings coact to constitute a pair o-f bearings for the forward end of the manual controlshaft. The forward end of the head is milled to form a linger piece 25 projecting forwardly of the front face 6 of the mounting and So disposed relative to the mounting' that the shaft may be shifted longitudinally for the purpose hereinafter described and may then be rotated without interference from the mounting or parts carried thereby.

A crown gear 26 is mounted upon the portion of the shaft within the casing, which shaft is squared as shown at 27, whereby the rotary movement of the shaft 2() may be conveyed to the gear 26. vThis gear is so arranged that when moved longitudinally of its axis into the shifted position hereinafter described, it will mesh with the pinion 16 so as to form a driving connection between the shafts 20 and 12. The gear is shown to be a stamping, `for the reason `that crown gears can be readily and cheaply stamped to shape; but an obvious and p-referable modification in situations where expense is not so material would be to have a bevel gear connection between the two shafts. A long sleeve 28 is slidably mounted upon the shaft 20 in rear of the gear 26 and constitutes a means for spacing the gear 26 from the pinion 16. r[he rca-r end of the sleeve is reduced to form a peripheral cam surface 29 adapted to bear on the head 17, to shift the shaft 12 longitudinally against the action of the spring 13. The cam is maintained normally in an inoperative position by means of a spring 30 which bears on the rear wall 31 of the casing and upon the rear end of Figure 2, the operator will grasp the head 25 and by pushing in on the shaft 20 move the same longitudinally, compressing the spring 30 and shifting the cam from the full line into the dotted line position. In this position, the pinion 10 engages only the gear wheel 8 and so interrupts the driving engagements between the gears 8 and 9. When in this position, the head 25 is rotated about its axis in the direction necessary to reset the odometer counting mechanism. Thero- 'Y tary movement of the shaft is transmitted through the meshed gear clutch connection provided by the gears 26 and 16, and this rotary movement may be continued until the desired reset of the odometer mechanism is made as indicated on the dial face of the instrument which is positioned adjacent the finger piece 25.

eleasing tension on the shaft 20 will permit the spring 30 to act on the cam surface 28 to move the same away from the head 17 and at `the same time to act upon the crown gear 26 to move the same into the inoperative position shown in Figure 2, with the clutch connection disengaged. As the clutch is moved away frompthe head 17, the spring 13 is free to acti on the shaft 12 to shift the same longitudinally into its initial position, Withthe gears 8 and 9 connected through the pinion 10. ln this way, the mechanism is restored to its normal working condition and the gear 16 rotates idly without transmitting its rotation to the manually controlled shaft 20.

By means of a device of this character, the odometer may be mounted with its dial face flush with the dash-board and at the same time a positive and easily manipulated control is provided for the, resetting mechanism mounted in rear of the dash-board. With this construction, it is merely necessary that there be one lactuating member projecting through the mountingfto the front of the same, and in this Way the neat appearance provided by a flush mounting of such instruments is retained.

As there is but one element to be fingered, it is possible to reset the device with one hand thus leaving the other hand of the operator free to control the steering and other mechanism. The operation is simple; it is merely necessary to push in the shaft and then rotate it and when the desired reset has been effected the pressure on the shaft is relieved and all the parts return automatically to their normal positions.

While I have shown and described, and

` have pointed out in the annexed claims, certain novel features of my invention, it will be understood that various omissions, Vsubstitutions and changes in the form and 'details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim l. A gear clutch controlling attachment for odometers of the type which are complete instruments per se, said attachment including a casing provided with means for attaching the same to the odometer, a shaft mounted in said casing for both longitudinal and rotary movement and having a finger actuating part projecting through the front of the attachment, a cam mounted on said shaft and actuated by the front-to-rear' longitudinal movement thereof, an element of a driving connection with the odometer mechanism operatively connected to be driven by the rota-ry movement of said shaft when shifted rearwardly and a spring housed within saidcasing and bearing on said shaft normally to maintain the finger actuating part projected forwardly and to maintain the element of the driving conc -nection in an inoperative position.

2. In a device of the claw described, the combination with an odometer 'comprising a mechanism containing casing with a counter mechanism contained therein, said mechanism including a driven shaft projecting exteriorly of the casing adapted to be actuated manually to affect the counter mechanism and mounted for rotary and longitudinal movement and having a resetting gear on the eXteriorly projecting part, of an attachment for containing said resetting gear vand provided with means fo-r attaching the same to the, odometer casing, a manually actuated shaft mounted in said attachment and means actuated by said shaft attachment for shifting saidfdriven shaft longitudinally and for rotating the same.

3. An odometer including a mechanism containing casing with a reset shaft projecting exteriorly therefrom and adapted normally to be accessible from the outside of the casing for manual actuation7 an attachment constituting *an article of manufactu're provided with means for demountably securing the sam'e to the exterior o f the casing and provided with manually actuated mechanism for engaging said shaft and for causing the same tofunction.

4. An article of manufacture constituting an attachment to an odometer casing comprising a mechanism containing casing provided with means for attachingthe same to theodometer casing, a manually actuated shaft mounted in said mechanism containing casing for rotary land longitudinal movement, a gear carried by said shaft and movable therewith, a cam carried by said shaft and a spring bearing on said mechanismcontaining casing and operatively connected to said shaftito move the cam and gear into an inoperative position relative to the odometer mechanism with which it is intended to operate. A

5. An odometer resettin device includin a mechanism contaimng casing, provi ed with means for attaching the same to an odometer casing which has a resetting element of its mechanism projecting therefrom and in the absence of the resetting device adapted to be manually actuated, a

manually actuated shaft mounted in said mechanism containing casing and projectmechanism containing casing and projecting therefrom to provide a yfinger engaging part, means operatively connected to said shaft and adapted to engagean element of the odometer mechanism to shift the same and to move the same into driving connection with said manually actuated shaft and means acting on said mechanism for moving the same into its normal position disconneoted from said odometer mechanism.

, 7. In a device of the class described, the combination of an odometer including a casin having reset mechanism contained therein and including a shaft having a rounded endy projecting exteriorly from the casing, of a resetting attachment for said odometer including a support, a shaft mounted in said support for both rotary and longitudinal movement and provided with va cam surface adapted in one position of the shaft to engage said rounded end thereby to shift the first mentioned shaftlongitudinally and a driving connection between said shafts operatively engaged when the first named shaft is so shifted.

8. In a device of the class described, the combination of an odometer 'including a casing having reset mechanism contained therein and including a shaft having a rounded end projecting exteriorly from the to engage said rounded end thereby to f shift the first mentioned shaft longitudinally and a driving connection between said shafts 'operatively engaged when the first named shaft is so shifted, said attaching 10 casing. together with its resettin mechan-ism being removable as a unit om said odometer casing without affecting the functioning of the odometer mechanism.

Signed at New York in New. York and State v0f New York, this thirteenth day of Februar A1. D. 1917.

' CLAREN E CARSON.

the county of 15 

